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Hugh’s Amsterdam iShares Cup 2009

This weekend saw the 5th in the series of the iShares cup events, I was racing the iShares Extreme 40 as mainsheet man. We had a good event, even though the day before the regatta started we lost our bow man, Adam Piggott to a badly sprained Ankle, which meant he missed the Dutch event and will also miss the last event Almeria.

This was a big set back less than 12 hours before the start of the first race, but fortunately we were able to get a great replacement in the form of 49er Olympic sailor Paul Campbell James (Paul has steered Extreme 40 catamarans in the past, at Cowes week last year). This left us with a steep learning curve but after a bit of Saturday morning practice the team gelled nicely.

The event went fairly well for us seeing as it was a new team dynamic and we had plenty of good races. Saturday night we were 4th overall having had some great wins in some races on the Friday and Saturday. Unfortunately the last 2 races were not so good for us a collision when we were in the right which we got disqualified from and we dropped back to 6th overall on the Sunday. All in all a great event and I was unexpectedly really enjoyed the tough and close quarters racing in the ‘Dam’, usually we race there with a lot of apprehension as it a crash waiting to happen normally.

Now back in Weymouth getting the world straight, with plans for the winter and organising charter opportunities for people in the Asian Extreme Sailing Series, which is going to happen in the end of this year and early in 2010.

The next event is this coming weekend in the blackwater Essex, sailing the F18 and then off to Almeria for the next Extreme 40 event.